May 2013

Recent news coverage surrounding sexual assaults in the military has exposed a shockingly widespread pattern of brutality against some of our service members. That sort of violence perpetuated against those who chose to dedicate their lives to protect our country is deplorable. As is a military system that discourages victims from reporting the incidents in the first place, while failing to respond to those reports that are filed. Even worse, active duty military are actually barred from bringing discrimination or personal injury civil court claims after a sexual assault.

Michelle Garcia of Miami never thought a simple doctor’s office procedure for birth control would result in the removal of both of her fallopian tubes. Yet last year Michelle underwent surgery to remove Essure, a medical device marketed as a “surgery-free permanent” birth control procedure. It was supposed to be Michelle’s easy solution for birth control for life; instead, it was her worst nightmare, requiring surgery to remove the coils and both damaged fallopian tubes.

As if we needed another example of the need to hold generic drug makers accountable to the same standard as brand names, there isthis disturbing story from The New York Times. A drug maker named Ranbaxy was churning out generic versions of a number of common drugs, including the epilepsy drug, gabapentin. But in 2007, it admitted to the Food and Drug Administration that certain batches of the drug had tested positive for “unknown impurities.”